A Fiction Drought...is Over

Lately I seem to have been stuck in a rut where i have found it a tough slog to get through the latest outings from usually dependable purveyors of thriller fiction. Some I managed to struggle through. I think in some cases, the authors may have fallen victim to their own success; when their latest efforts fail to measure up to their prior work and can be perceived as missing the mark.

Cari Mora - Thomas Harris (Grand Central Publishing)

That may be the case with Thomas Harris, who is clearly cursed by the overwelming success of Silence of the Lambs and the Hannibal Lecter character being the yardstick that readers will forever measure him by. Harris has the uncanny ability to create memorable, violent, psychopathic, characters like Lecter and Francis Dolarhyde (Red Dragon) that drive his stories.

In his latest, Cari Mora, Harris combines a newly minted psycho in the form of Hans-Peter Schneider with a truly interest story concept of the hunt for an ill-gotten treasure in the form of $25 million in drug cartel gold, hidden beneath a Miami, ocean front mansion. While Lecter and Dolarhyde where clearly next level crazy, Schneider comes off as violent for the sake of violence.

As the story moves forward, it unfortunately begins to fizzle out as the title character can't quite measure up to FBI profiler Clarice Starling as female foil to the craziness.

The Persian Gamble - Joel C. Rosenberg (Tyndale)

Another case of the yardstick issue is the latest from Joel C Rosenberg, The Persian Gamble. I couldn't help but find myself comparing the latest entry in the Marcus Ryker saga to Rosenberg's early political thrillers like, The Last Jihad and The Last Days, that had an almost Nostradamus-like quality; seemingly predicting real world, future events, before they happened.

While Ryker is a dependable tough guy, that places him in the league with those created by Brad Thor, Vince Flynn, and Daniel Silva; this one seemed to be a bit of a stretch. The result was that it started to lose me at points - not bad, just not up to the level I've come to expect.

Crown Jewel - Christopher Reich (Mullholland)

Once again, the concept, while familiar, classic, tried and true; that of the so-called unseen hand in plain site, is a great one that has been done to great effect in the past. The second installment in Christopher Reich's Simon Riske series, Crown Jewel, misses the  and a beautiful femme fatale. Riske come off as a battered and bruised, Energizer Bunny, who takes an ass-kicking and keeps on ticking. While I am certainly a willing participant in fiction that suspends disbelief, this one just seems a bridge too far.

Drought Over

Collusion - Newt Gingrich and Pete Earley (Broadside)

Things start to look up with the latest fiction forray from the combo of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and veteran writer Pete Earley, Collusion. While we have been blasted with the C-word for the past two plus years, this one is not what you may think. The first entry in what will hopefully become and ongoing series featuring FBI counter-intel type Valarie Mayberry and disgraced former Navy SEAL, Brett Garrett, Collusion taps into not only Gingrich and Earley's insider knowledge, but also some ripped from today's headlines storylines.

Along the way you get political assassination, high stakes espionage, whack-a-mole Antifa types and even a side story centering on the opioid crisis and medication assisted treatment. Perfectly paced and intricately woven the team keeps things moving forward and isn't shy about tossing in a few curveballs to make things even a little more audacious.

Rogue Strike - David Riccardi (Berkley)

In Rogue Strike, from David Riccardi, the unseen hand remains a mystery until deep into the story, and could have deadly consequences not only for CIA Operative Jake Keller and his partner, Curt Roach, but on a more global scale, the United States and it's interests around the globe.

Early on a mission in Yemen to take out a high value terrorist target goes awry as control of a drone get's commandeered in in mid-flight. The drones payload of Hellfire missiles, intended to take out the bad guy, instead get dropped on Mecca and the innocents at the annual Haj pilgrimage, leaving thousand dead, countless injured and the U.S. squarely in the crosshairs of international outrage and hatred.

Keller and Roach become the easy targets of blame for politicians looking to pass the buck. With a target firmly affixed on their back, Keller and Roach run hellbent to stay one step ahead of the Middle Eastern Hoard on the hunt for their heads. Fast-paced is an understatement and Riccardi make the case that he is poised to join the elite ranks of thriller writers.

Redemption - David Baldacci (Grand Central)

Right from his first forray into fiction, 1996's Absolute Power, and on through his numerous series of regular characters, David Baldacci has proven to be one of the most prolific, nearing fifty titles in print, and consistently satisfying writers out there.

Baldacci's fifth installment in the so-called Memory Man series, Redemption, is no exception. The quirky and enigmatic Amos Decker is back and Baldacci does his dead level best to string you along and dole out not only a steady stream of clues to the stories direction, but also enough hooks and curves to keep you guessing right through the end.

While for me, Decker doesn't rank at the same level as Baldacci's Will Robie, King and Maxwell or The Camel Club crew, Redemption, did wonders for ending my fiction drought.

Expect, No…Mercy

The Long Road to Mercy – David Baldacci (Grand Central)

Since his debut thriller, Absolute Power, some 23 years ago in 1996, I have been a fan of bestselling author David Baldacci. Through his amazing catalog of work and his multitude of successful characters and series he has done an amazing job of weaving enthralling tales and creating compelling story leads.

So it was no surprise that Baldacci would once again launch a new character to lead the way with his latest book, The Long Road to Mercy, in the form of FBI Special Agent Atlee Pine. Right from the first page I thought we were off to the races on another amazing thrill ride. Pine makes late night visit to the Colorado based Florence ADX, super-max prison to have a chat with serial killer and mountain sized Hannibal Lecter-like, Daniel James Tor, who she believes is responsible for the disappearance of her twin sister Mercy.

With shades of Clarice Starling confronting Lecter at the Plexiglass divider I was strapped in a ready for what I thought was certain to come! And then the story took a hard turn and veered off into a tale involving the murder and mutilation of a Grand Canyon mule and the mysterious circumstances that surround it. What? The word LONG in the title is very apt, because this one goes on a long and winding road to introduce Pine and her background while mixing in a twisted tale involving international intrigue, a so-called suitcase nuke, mysterious North Korean thugs and a shadowy bunch of consultants and think tank operatives. What?

I hung in for the story to see exactly where it would go and end up and in the end thought it would be a good story for a beginning novelist, but I wasn’t sold that this was up to Baldacci’s standards. Here’s hoping the title The Long Road to Mercy, lives to its billing in the second book and Baldacci sends Pine on an ongoing search for answers involving her sister.   

Twist and Turns

End Game – David Baldacci – (Grand Central Publishing)

Seemingly right from the get go with his first novel Absolute Power bestselling author David Baldacci has been a master of the hard 180 turn, throwing unexpected curves at readers with a skill that is hard to match. So I guess I should not have been surprised after a couple of setup chapters that find Baldacci’s hero and heroine, Will Robie and Jessica Reel in harrowing and challenging far flung places; Robie in the tunnels under London and Reel in the desert of Iraq, both outnumbered and taking down bad guys, that Baldacci would make the hard shift and toss the pair into backwoods Colorado.

Their objective is to track down their mysterious agency handler, dubbed Blue Man, who’s gone missing while vacationing in his boyhood home of Grand Colorado. The list of possible evil doers who could have taken Blue Man and that is stacked up in front of Robie and Reel is legion, including: white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, druggies, in-laws and outlaws.

Baldacci is a master at conjuring up scenarios that seem insurmountable and yet offers believable escapes to the seemingly indestructible duo. Just when it looks like things are reaching the end game for the pair they manage to find a play that gets them out trouble and turns things around and onto the bad guys.

This is a perfect holiday read/gift for the thriller fan and the fact that Baldacci arms Robie and Reel with a no-holds-barred mindset, where the bad guys get what they deserve will have you cheering and hoping there are real-life versions of the pair out protecting us in the very real, very bad world.

Spring Into Fiction

The Vinyl Detective – The Run Out Groove: Vinyl Detective 2 – Andrew Cartmel (Titan Books)

One of the most often used phrases when it comes to writing goes something like “write about what you know”. Seems like pretty logical advice for aspiring wordsmiths. In the case of The Vinyl Detective – The Run Out Groove: Vinyl Detective 2, novelist, playwright and screenwriter Andrew Cartmel, for me it may better be called, read about what you know.

There is just something so appealing, quirky and well, relatable about the cast of characters in the Vinyl Detective series, because I have spent many an hour hanging around with music obsessed folks just like this crew. While hunting down that rare Beatles 45 on the purple rather than black label you honestly can develop the keen eye it takes to hunt down information and clues that can solve the case.

This time around the Vinyl Detective and merry band of coffee fueled cohorts are seeking details on a very familiar storyline; the pop chanteuse who passed before her time, think Janis, who left behind a mystery train that includes a whodunit, a backup singing sister, who goes off the rails and troop of hangers on, band members and countless other rock ‘n’ roll circus types. The hunt is on and where it ends up is never where you even thought it might. This makes two for two for Cartmel and the Vinyl Detective, when it comes to an early entry in the my favorite book this year sweepstakes.

I’d Die For You: And Other Lost Stories – F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner)

Full confession up front: I have never read any of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American works. I have also never seen any of the various renditions of the movies based upon his writings. I have however binged upon the first season of Amazon Prime show Z: the Beginning of Everything which chronicles Fitzgerald’s whirlwind romance and marriage to Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald. It intrigued me to the point of interest in this collection of unfinished and “lost” works.

While the TV show eludes to Zelda’s apparent “influence” if not outright authorship of some of Fitzgerald’s work, I’d Die For You: And Other Lost Stories offers just the right amount of background detail as too the provenance of these works and some of the history behind the author and the times to lend it a bit of intrigue.

Anne Margaret Daniel, a New School literature professor and a bit of an expert on Fitzgerald and the era uses a judicious hand to edit and lend perspective on the on the story behind the stories. Clearly this collection wasn’t originally intended to hang together under the same cover; there is a loose ends feel to the proceedings, but clearly there is a level of skill on display here that varies along the way.

The Fix – David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)

David Baldacci is brilliant and spinning those stories that you get all caught up in and leave you wondering why it is that all is not exactly like it seems. Amos Decker is a guy who can’t forget any detail; and that may be a blessing or a curse depending on your perspective. Decker witnesses first hand a murder of his way into the office and just happened to work at the FBI.

While the murder makes no sense on its face; no connection between the killer and the victim, no apparent motive for the killing and two seemingly disparate people involved. Aptly named, The Fix, Baldacci’s latest will leave you alternately scratching your head and guessing what is coming next. Even veteran “case solving” readers will get thrown off the scent with the twists in this one.

Decker is one of those live in their own world quirky characters that make for a solid foundation for this series. While longtime Baldacci fans may have some quibbles, I think it’s a solid triple from an MVP writer.

Start the Summer Reading Stampede

With the Memorial Day holiday comes the annual stampede of great summer reading; here a small sample of what to expect from tried and true veterans of the form to up and coming new talents.

Bird Box – Josh Malerman (ECCO/Harper Collins)

It’s out there. Something is lurking, just off the edges of your reality and if you see it, it’s all over. Imagine trying to live an existence of sensory deprivation; blindfolded against a force that to identify will cause you to go off in a murderous rage.

Josh Malerman delivers a strikingly good debut novel, Bird Box that delivers the best kind of horror and chills; the ones where your own mind creates a thrilling tension. A young women, Malorie, and her two children are set to depart the relative safety of their run down home by the river, to board a row boat and head off in search of something resembling new existence.

It is a terrifying journey, shrouded in darkness and aided by the children’s well developed sense of hearing. Can they find their way to a group of survivors and in the end will that reality be any better? It takes reckoning with an unseen force to a whole new level.

The Target – David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)

Recalibration. The game is once again afoot and following the mis-adventures of The Hit, Will Robie and Jessica Reel have the potential of being loose cannons so they are subjected to the CIA’s version of a recall. It’s off to the so-called “Burner Box” a physical and psychological test/torture designed to be grueling and a measure of their worthiness for trust.

 

David Baldacci picks up right where he left off with the latest installment in the Will Robie series, The Target. Baldacci keeps the pace hopping, the locales on a global scale and the plots on the edge. Think another day in the life of 24 and be sure to send your sense disbelief on vacation.

Seal Team Six – Hunt The Jackyl – Don Mann (Mulholland Books/Little Brown)

Elite SEALS are off to track down a missing drone when everything goes off the rails, a Mexican drug cartel kidnaps a Senator’s wife and daughter and the adventure is off to the races. Former SEAL Don Mann’s latest installment in the Seal Team Six series, Seal Team Six – Hunt The Jackyl has a ripped from the headlines feel to it.

 

Mann is clearly a guy who has been there and done that and he convincingly delivers that battle hardened detail to this series. Mann paints a picture perfect description of the power crazed El Chacal – The Jackyl, a controlling murderous villain who lives up to the headlines and dirty deeds south of our southern border. Seal Team Six – Hunt The Jackyl delivers high entertainment value.

The Zodiac Deception – Gary Kriss (Forge Books)

It is the Summer of 1942 and “Wild Bill” Donovan the real life founder of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), what would become the modern CIA is looking for a way to bring World War II to an expeditious conclusion by eliminating Adolf Hitler. Who would the spymaster turn to? A German insider? A highly trained operative who could infiltrate the inner ranks of the Nazis? A skilled soldier or group of soldiers who could take part in daring raid?

All good answers, but the choice in The Zodiac Deception, the debut novel by former New York Times reporter Gary Kriss is not that obvious. Donovan, hoping to play off the Nazis penchant for astrology selects a mysterious con man known as “David Walker” to play the part of astrologer Peter Kepler, to gain the trust of Heinrich Himmler and use his highly honed skills to convince him to assassinate Hitler.

Historically accurate and with thrills on steroids, Kriss weaves and entertaining debut with the only minor complaint being the sheer volume of story in this 496 page epic.

Santa’s Bookshelf

Books have always been one of my favorite holiday gifts to both give and receive. Here are a small selection some books on Santa’s bookshelf that could find their way under your Christmas tree.
 

Silent Night – A Spenser Holiday Novel – Robert B. Parker with Helen Brann (Putnam Publishing)

 

At the time of his unexpected passing 2010, author Robert B. Parker was hard at work on writing his first Christmas themed book in the form of a Spenser holiday novel, Silent Night.

 

It’s December in Boston and Parker’s original hero, Spenser is doing what he does second best; carefully crafting the menu for a holiday celebration, when his turducken plans are interrupted by a young visitor that sets the story in motion.

Parker’s long time literary agent, Helen Brann was well equipped after working side by side with the author for 32 years to pick up the reins and finish the tale. Like many holiday themed novels, the story line is light and makes for easy reading; if you’re looking for deep thinking, you’ll have to look elsewhere. This one is all about fun and adventure Spenser style.

 

White Fire – Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Grand Central Publishing)

I’ve been writing for over 30 years and I have always been intrigued by what the dynamic is between writing teams. One of the most successful duos in fiction writing, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child is out with another Pendergast story, White Fire.

 

Eccentric, intriguing, and intelligent; Pendergast could be one of the most entertaining, quirky characters in fiction. As controlled and meticulous as Pendergast is, the wildcard that is Corrie Swanson seems to be the perfect fictional foil. Their interactions often serve to ratchet up the tension of the story.

Add to this winning mix a legendary tale featuring Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde, a historical serial killer and a current psychotic killer and the story is bound to take some interesting twists and turns before reaching it’s exciting conclusion.

 

King and Maxwell – David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing)

From the time he took the literary world by storm with his debut novel Absolute Power, author David Baldacci has become one of the most reliably entertaining writers out there. He has literally created a shelf chock full of memorable characters over a span of great book series.

The list includes; John Puller, Will Robie, The Camel Club and of course King and Maxwell. The last duo, is the name sake of Baldacci’s latest book, King and Maxwell. Former Secret Service agents turned private investigators, Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are thrust into an investigation involving a teenager who’s Dad was killed in Afghanistan…in true Baldacci style…or was he?

 

In receipt of a carefully crafted, coded email, sent after his father supposedly died, Tyler Wingo turns to King and Maxwell for a helping hand and from there the story is off to the races.

Adding to the storyline is the built in tension, often between the lines, between King and Maxwell. The whole male, female partner tension thing certainly isn’t new, but Baldacci does a masterful job of balancing it in the mix without overwhelming the story.

 

Identical – Scott Turow (Grand Central Publishing)

Long before Kindle became the e-reader of choice for millions, it was better known for being the county that was home to attorney/bestselling author Scott Turow’s collection of colorful denizens of an equally colorful community.

 

With Identical Turow once again posits an intriguing concept and develops a story that will most likely keeping you guessing right to the end. I pride myself on more often than not being able to figure out where the story will wind up, but this one left me scratching my head.

 

While Turow has often displayed the ability to weave intricate, character laden plot lines, at times in Identical the reader may be left flapping their arms to keep their head above the character waterline. While he tries mightily to pull all of the loose strings together, Turow may have bitten off more than the average reader can chew.

With a bit of patience, this one is still worth the read, it may just take a bit of extra focus to keep things straight.

 

David Baldacci – The Forgotten (Grand Central Publishing)

There’s trouble in Paradise and an over-sized military cop is on the scene to check things out and get to the bottom of a mysterious string of deaths and a fistful of nasty characters. Lee Child’s talented tough guy Jack Reacher? Nope. David Baldacci’s Maj. John Puller, a special agent in the Army’s Criminal Investigative Division (CID).

Puller, first featured in Baldacci’s Zero Day, makes his return in The Forgotten as he heads to Florida’s panhandle city Paradise to follow up on a letter his Aunt Betsy sent to his dementia ridden Father. The letter alludes to mysterious occurrences and how things are not as they seem.

Puller arrives just in time to learn his Aunt has turned up dead; whether it’s murder or an accident remains to be scene. The back drop for this misadventure is the beautiful ocean side setting complete with great weather, sandy beaches, and wealthy tourists and retirees. Peel back a few layers and there’s plenty of intrigue and bad actors to go around.

Baldacci weaves in a heaping helping of action and a series of interesting characters including a Bulgarian giant, who allies with Puller to take down a human trafficking ring at the center of the story. The Forgotten makes for fast and entertaining read.\

 No Puller will never be Jack Reacher…then again neither will tiny Tom Cruise who been mis-cast in the Reacher movie.